New animation tells the forgotten stories of migrant musicians

Tuesday 26 May 2026

A newly released animation reveals the forgotten stories of migrant musicians from Nazi-Europe, demonstrating how composers forced into exile went on to reshape Britain’s musical life, based on research from the Royal College of Music (RCM).

The video celebrates the continuing impact of the four-year research project Music, Migration and Mobility: The Legacy of Migrant Musicians from Nazi-Europe in Britain (2019-2023). It brings together archival research from the UK, Germany, Austria and the Isle of Man to tell the stories of migrant musicians such as Robert Kahn, Hans Gál, Mátyás Seiber, Egon Wellesz, and Eric Sanders, highlighting their experiences and contributions to national cultural renewal after the Second World War.

Led by the RCM’s Norbert Meyn, Music, Migration and Mobility is a performance-led and multi-disciplinary project seeking to better understand the significance of migration and mobility for music, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. It brought together an international team of musicians, archival researchers, musicologists and geographers for one of the biggest musicological research projects at the Royal College of Music to date.

Norbert Meyn, leader of the Music, Migration and Mobility project, commented: ‘I am delighted that this short film introduces viewers to our project’s research, which has made beautiful music accessible for the first time and benefitted communities all over the UK, Germany, Austria and as far away as Australia, where our mobile exhibition highlighted the stories of Émigré musicians from Nazi Europe.’

Watch the inspiring video to learn how music is shaped by migration:

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The Music, Migration and Mobility travelling exhibition will feature at a one-day symposium, ‘A Tonic to the Nation: Refugees and Immigrants at the Festival of Britain’, this September, exploring the lives and legacies of émigré musicians who fled the Nazi regime. Learn more about the Music, Migration and Mobility research project and its learning resources, and find up-to-date information about ongoing impact activities.

Video created by Fat Panda, funded by the Enhancing Research Culture fund.